Yucca
Yucca glauca
Agavaceae (agave family)
Yucca was misnamed by John Gerarde, an English physician, in the 1600s, as it was mistaken for the vegetable yucca. Like other botanical misnomers, the name has stuck. The species name, glauca, means "whitened with a bloom"; the leaves are covered with a whitish, waxy film.
Yucca is a big family of striking plants, with about forty species native to North America. They grow primarily in the warmer regions of the South, where they are often cultivated. There are a few hardy species in the North.
These perennials grow in clumps radiating out from basal rosettes above woody rootstocks. Abundant, long, bayonet-like, waxy green leaves sometimes have whitish margins. Large flowers cluster along stout, spire-like stalks extending well above the leaves. These bell-shaped creamy-white flowers bloom from May through July, then ripen into long, green oval pods that become woody when mature and open to release numerous flat black seeds. All plant parts are valuable, but principally the large roots were used medicinally and for hair
care.
Soapweed, Yucca glauca, is also known as beargrass, amole, Spanish bayonet, dagger plant, and Adam's needle (referring to these sharp-pointed leaves). The Lakota call it hupe'stola (sharp-pointed stem); the Pawnee call it chakida-kahtsu; the Omaha and Ponca call it duwaduwahi; and the Blackfeet name is eksiso-ke. This plant grows wild across the Great Plains regions, especially favoring the sandy areas.
Traditional uses:
The Blackfeet and other Plains tribes boiled Yuuca roots in water to make a tonic to prevent hair loss. This also served as an anti-inflammatory for poulticing sprains and breaks. Young emerging blossoms and new seedpods were also edible foods for many tribes. The Lakota made a strong root tea to drink for stomach aches. When this was mixed with a tea of the roots of the prickly pear cactus, it made a valued childbirth remedy.
The blue yucca, or banana yucca, Y. baccata, is found throughout the desert Southwest, and the Joshua tree, Y. brevifolia, also provided medicines, foods, and soapy cleansers. Ancient fibers from these species have been found as yucca cordage, belts, rope ladders, cradle lashings, and sandals at Bandolier National Historic Park and other prehistoric sites in the Southwest.
As the name soapweed implies, fresh or dry yucca roots are pounded and thrashed in water to make a sudsy lather for scalp and hair. Zuni, Cochiti, and Jemez Pueblo men and women wash their hair with it before ceremonial dances, as do many other Indians. They take great pride in the healthy shine it gives their black hair, plus the yucca treatments are considered to strengthen the hair. Pueblo potters used yucca-fiber brushes to draw their classic designs on clay pots, especially at Acoma Pueblo.
Modern uses:
Yucca tea provides valuable anti-inflammatory relief for arthritic pains according to Michael Moore, a folk medicine practitioner. He maintains that similar teas also provide relief from prostate inflammations.
Growth needs and propagation:
Yucca prefers sandy, loamy soil with good drainage and open exposure to the sun and wind. Propagation is easily made from the seeds, offsets (new young plants), and cuttings of stems, rhizomes, or roots in late summer, fall, or winter. Follow standard procedures.
Yucca is an attractive, robust evergreen plant that often blooms on Memorial Day in southern regions. It is cultivated across the country Roots of mature plants can grow to be twenty feet long. These plants have stunning cultivars, specially rosea, which is noted for its rose-tinted flowers.
Companions:
Yucca plants are good companions for yarrow, prickly pear, Oregon holly grape, strawberry, and tobacco.
May all I say and all I think be in harmony with thee, God within me, God beyond me, Maker of the tree.
-Chinook prayer fragment
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